Door closer



Jam 2, l934- P. c. RICHTER Er AL 1,942,185

DOOR CLOSER Filed July l, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l I llll 45 ,IIN \44 lo l 3o 27 :so

IQ/B s? v Illy/ll//l/l/l//l/l//l/A fr? s. 7901@ C. /Jlzfa INVENTORS ATTORNEY Jan. 2, 1934. P. c. RICHTER Er AL l 1,942,185

DOOR CLOSER Filed July l. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,WWII f.

INVENTOR BY A/ ZA ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 2, 1934 UNITED STATES DOOR CL'GSER Paul C. Richter,

Stamford,

and Robert S.

Potter, Greenwich, Conn., assignors to The Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company,

Stamford, Conn.

Application July 1, 1930. Serial No. 465,180

7 Claims.

This invention relates to door closers of the concealed type. While door closers of this type have been developed quite frequently in the art, they have been of doubtful value, due to faulty construction and incorrrect principles of operation. It is the object of our invention to construct a door closer of this general type in which a high operating efliciency may be obtained, and where the construction may be economical and suitable for general commercial use.

It is a further object of our invention to design a door closer of the concealed type for particular use with a hollow metal door of the type now being adapted for use in buildings of all types. Other objects of our invention and improvements therein over the prior art will be apparent from a review of the specification and drawings.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a partial perspective view showing our door closer as applied to a hollow metal door and frame. Fig. 2 is a section through our door closer showing its parts and its relationship to the door in which it is mounted. Fig. 3 is a partial section of the door and the upper portion of the door frame showing the relation of the door closer to the frame and door. Fig. 4 is a section along the line 4 4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a section along the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a partial section along the line 6 6 of of Fig. 3 showing the relationship of the door closer, the arms thereof and the door frame.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and especially Figs. l and 2, reference numeral 10 indicates a door of the hollow metal type, having a relatively thick hollow panel frame l1 about its perimeter. Mounted in this door panel frame 11 is a door closer casing 12 having a horizontal portion 13 and a vertically extending portion 14, the vertical portion 14 lying in the vertical part of panel frame 11 while the horizontal portion 13 lies in the horizontal part of the panel frame. The top of the door closer casing is equipped with a cover member 15 having a series of bearings for different actuating and controlling devices, which will be explained presently. The casing 12 may be secured by screws 16 to frame members 17 carried by the door and welded or secured thereto in any other manner that may be desirable.

A shaft 18 is carried in the bearing portion 19 of the plate 15, and extends vertically the entire length of the downward extending portion 14 of the casing and has secured thereto at its lower end, a disc 20 by means of a pin 2l. At the upper portion of the shaft 18 is secured a ratchet device 22 cooperating with a pawl 23a whereby said ratchet and therefore the shaft y18 may be adjusted to any particular position. (See Fig-6.)

Mounted about this shaft 18 is a sleeve 23 having a ball bearing mounting 24vat the head thereof. This sleeve extends the full length of the shaft 18 to a point just above the disc 20. The door closing spring 25 is secured at its upper point 26 to the sleeve 23 and at its bottom end, is secured to the disc 20 of the shaft 18 at the point27. It will readily be understood that by having a long spring mounted about a ball bearing sleeve, a smooth non-frictional action will be obtained, while the length of the spring will greatly increase its life.

A shaft 27 has a ball bearing mounting 28 relatively to the bearing plate 15 and a bottom ball bearing 29 relatively to the bottom plate of the horizontal casing portion 12. This shaft27 has xed thereto, one of the door closer arms 30 which is adapted to be rotated upon the opening and closing movements of the door. vSecured to the shaft 27 at point 32, as is apparent from Fig. 5, is a chain 31 which extends across the horizontal portion of the door closer to the shaft 18, and is secured at point 33 to the sleeve 23 mounted on the shaft 27.

From the description of the parts as given above, it will be readily understood that rotation of the shaft 27 upon the opening movement of the door will act to wind the chain 31 about the shaft 27, and therefore, to rotate the sleeve 23 relatively to the bearing shaft 18'so as to wind up the spring 25. It will be understood that this winding action of the spring takes place upon opening movement of the door, and that when the door is released, the releasing action of the spring acts to close the door by actuating the chain 31 in a reverse direction to that just described. For checking this powerful closing action of the spring, our invention utilizes a conventional type of checking mechanism which will be described below.

A piston 34 is mounted in a cylinder 35 and is controlled by the valves 37 and 37 which act to check the operation of the spring 25 in its door closing action. Referring to Figs. 2 and 4, the piston 34 has a connecting rod portion 36 carrying rack 37a which is actuated by a gear 38 carried by the shaft 27. The piston 34 carries the usual ball valve 39 and is further controlled by the Valves 37 and 37 in a manner well known in the art. While we do not lay claim to the particular operation of the piston 34, in its checking action, we do believe that its particular relationship to the other vparts of the mechanism is of novel, unique, and extremely meritorious character. The valves 37 and 37 are adapted to be controlled by the screw threaded rods 38 and 39 which extend vertically from the piston to a position above the bearing plate l5 so that they may be adjusted easily to control the closing action of the door.

Referring now more especially to Figs. 1, 3 and 6, we shall describe the relationship of the door and the doo-r closing arms to the door casing. The arm 30 is secured to the shaft 27 as has been explained heretofore. A second arm 40 is pivoted to the arm 30 at'point 4l and at the point 42 to the hollow door casing 43.

The hollow door frame 43 is slotted at point 44 so that the arms 30 and 40 will enter to remain entirely invisible when the door 10 is in closed position as seen in the section of Fig. 3. In order to allow entrance of the thick upstanding portion 30 of the arm 30, the frame is further cut out at the point 45 to allow this outstanding portion to enter the hollow frame. Thus, when the door is in closed position, there will be nothing visible toshow the presence of a door closer except the cut-out portions 44 and 45 which will notbe of such size as to mar the appearance of the door assembly.

While we havel shown but one modification of our invention', it is understood that variations of the same within the scope of the appended claims will readily occur to those skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. In a door closer, a vertical shaft, a sleeve ro'- tatable about said shaft, a spring mounted around the sleeve and secured at one end to said 1s wound.

sleeve and at its other end to said shaft, said shaft being fixed against movement relatively to said door closer, and means for rotating said sleeve relatively to said shaft whereby said spring secured to said second shaft for rotating the same upon opening movement of the door, and a chain sprocket in said casing connecting said second shaft to said spring winding shaft for winding the spring upon opening movement of the door.

3. In a door closer, avertical shaft, a sleeve having a bearing on said shaft along its length `I for rotation thereon, a spiral spring secured at one'end to said shaft and at its other end to the sleeve, a sprocket and chain connected to said sleeve and adapted to rotate the same to tension the spring, and means for actuating said chain and sprocket comprising a second shaft and sprocket rotated'by the opening action of the door.

4. In a door and closer assembly, a door closer housing adapted for a door having a relatively I thick panel frame about its perimeter, said door closer housing having a composite casing, one portion forming a rectangular block fitting in the horizontal portion of said panel frame and presenting an. upper surface adapted to lie in alignment with the upper surface of the door, and a second portion tubular in form and of considerable length extending from the bottom of said rectangular block and lying inthe vertical portion of the door panel frame.

5. In a door and closer assembly, a door closer housing adapted for a door having a relatively thick panel about its periphery, said door closer housing having a composite casing, one portion Y forming a rectangular block fitting in the horizontal portion of said panel and presenting an upper. surface adapted to lie in alignment with the Lipper surface of the door, and a second portion tubular in form and 0f considerable length extending from the bottom of said rectangular block and lying in the vertical portion of the door panel, a spring winding mechanism in the long tubular portion of said casing, a checking piston and cylinder in said rectangular block portion, and a door controlling shaft in said block portion controlled by said piston and spring inding mechanism.

6. A door concealed closer of the type adapted to lie within a doo-r panelY frame and having` a composite casing, one portion of said casing containing a checking Ypiston andl a checking cylinder and forming a rectangular block, presenting an upper surface adapted to lie in juxtaposition to the upper surface of the door in which it is mounted a tubular casing portion of considerable length extending from the bottom of said rectangular block and communicating withsaid block at its internal upper end, said casing being adapted to occupy the vertical panel frame of the door a spring and spring, wind'- ing means including a shaft and a sleeve in said tubular portion, an operating shaft in said rectangular block rotatable upon opening and closing movement of the door, and means `forming a continuous connection between said spring windingmeansandsaidshaft, and between said checking piston and said shaft, whereby to maintain continuous control of said shaft and the door.

'7. In a door closer assembly, a concealed door closer casing adapted to be mounted within the top panel frame of a door, an upper bearing and supporting plate for said casing adapted to assume a position in alignment with the upper surface of said door, a spring controlling shaft hav-V ing a bearing in said plate, means for adjusting* the spring tension of said shaft mounted on the upper surface of said plate, a pair of checking valves in said casing having adjusting portions extending through to the upper surface of said plate, said spring shaft and valve adjusting portions being arranged in parallel with their adjusting surfaces available on the upper door surface for facilitating adjustment of the springv tension and the checking mechanism.

PAUL C. RICHTER. ROBERT S. POTTER. 

